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| How big is $580,000,000,000? |
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Wednesday, May 12th, 2004
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$$$ It works out to about $1,780
for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
$$$ It is 2.7 times the total GDP
of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporting
nation.
$$$ It is equal to the estimated
entire manufacturing output of China, the world�s most
populous nation.
$$$ It is nearly 60 times America�s
entire overseas development aid budget.
$$$ It is more than 2,300 times the
cost of all vaccines used annually in the Third World.
$$$ If delivered in dollar bills,
it would weigh 520,000 tons - or about eleven times
the weight of the Titanic. The money would require a
fleet of 4,600 Boeing 747 freighters to transport.
$$$ Placed end to end in dollar
bills, it would stretch about 57 million miles - or
more than half the way to the sun. If the dollar bills
were stacked one on top of the other they would rise
40,000 miles into space.
STATISTICAL NOTE: The forecast is calculated on a
"current account" basis - the most comprehensive and
meaningful measure of trade and the one used by
economists and other experts. This is distinct from
the "goods-and-services" basis used by the U.S.
government in announcing the widely reported monthly
trade figures. Generally the current account basis
produces figures significantly larger than the
goods-and-services basis.
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Contact Eamonn Fingleton |
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